Mid-Season Returns on Some Former Yankees

Position Players

Lance Berkman - .296/.405/.592, 20 HR, 168 wRC+ (291 PA)

Berkman's fallen back to Earth after a torrid April, but he was still able to post a 133 wRC+ in June while mashing nine home runs. If he can maintain even this level of production going forward, it is likely that the Cardinals buy-low signing will have been the best move of the off-season.

Austin Jackson - .248/.312/.364, 4 HR, 91 wRC+ (357 PA)

His numbers took a dramatic step forward once more, as Jackson triple-slashed .299/.355/.418 in June (numbers that are right in-line with his rookie campaign). Jackson's walk rate is just about league-average now, which represents a fair bit of improvement from 2010, but he's still the type that will live and die by BABIP.

Juan Miranda - .217/.317/.414, 7 HR, 96 wRC+ (182 PA)

A month's worth of PA with an wRC+ of 29 will torpedo anyone's overall line. Surprisingly, Miranda has held his own against LHP this year while struggling against righties ... and his peripherals suggest that he's been a bit unlucky against southpaws, to boot.

Jose Tabata - .265/.351/.354, 3 HR, 102 wRC+ (297 PA)

On the positive side, Tabata's nearly doubled his walk rate without adding too many strikeouts, and he's performed quite well in the outfield. His line drive and groundball rates also suggest that his BABIP should be about twenty points higher, which would make his batting average look a bit better (by about 8 points, with a hasty calculation). That being said, his power has dropped off considerably, from below-average to poor, and his success rate on steals is a pedestrian 70%.

Pitchers

Alfredo Aceves - 49.2 IP, 42 H, 22 BB, 28 K, 3.62 ERA, 4.55 FIP

Aceves has been getting by with smoke and mirrors thus far, but he's given the Red Sox a fair bit of value as a long-reliever and spot-starter. Pitchers of his caliber aren't the rarest of commodities, but I do miss him a bit.

Phil Coke - 77.0 IP, 84 H, 30 BB, 37 K, 4.91 ERA, 3.73 FIP

Coke's been knocked around quite a bit since the end of May, but there does appear to be a fair amount of bad luck involved. Even so, a flyball oriented pitcher that doesn't really strike anyone out will always be prone to severe ups and downs.

Michael Dunn - 37.1 IP, 25 H, 25 BB, 46 K, 4.10 ERA, 4.65 FIP

His struggles continue.

Ian Kennedy - 116.2 IP, 97 H, 30 BB, 97 K, 3.01 ERA, 3.34 FIP

Kennedy's numbers remained fairly consistent in June, and I'd be surprised if he wasn't selected to the NL All-Star team - he's been a top-ten or so starter in the league thus far.

Dustin Moseley - 89.0 IP, 86 H, 27 BB, 43 K, 3.03 ERA, 3.97 FIP

Keeping the ball on the ground and limiting walks is a fine way to thrive in the NL West - particularly when half of the team's games are in Petco. Moseley's still performing fairly evenly between Petco and the road, though.

Javier Vazquez - 83.1 IP, 99 H, 33 BB, 59 K, 5.83 ERA, 4.58 FIP

Vazquez performed quite well in June, though his inflated BABIP and HR/FB made his ERA a deceivingly high 5.52. He struck out nearly a batter an inning, walked fewer than 2 per 9, and posted an above-average 3.47 xFIP.

Kerry Wood - 24.0 IP, 23 H, 10 BB, 21 K, 2.25 ERA, 3.89 FIP

Wood missed most of the month with a finger injury, but he was activated from the DL last night and may return to action as early as today.

Previous installments:
End of April
End of May